The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), through its Philippines-Spain Business Council (PSBC), and Casa Asia, in coordination with the Embassy of Spain in the Philippines and the Embassy of the Philippines in Spain held the ninth edition of the Spain Forum at the Instituto Cervantes in Madrid, Spain, from February 5 to 8.
The Forum has been a platform for dialogue between Spain and the Philippines, launched to promote annual meetings between delegations to strengthen bilateral ties in fields of common interest.
The forum has brought the Philippines and Spain closer not only on the economic and diplomatic end but also on the social and cultural fronts.
Tech-ready innovators
The FEU Tech Group of Schools now offers a Bachelor of Computer Science with a specialization in Data Science, and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology with a specialization in Innovation and Business or Business Analytics.
Students interested in taking any of these specializations are invited to take the FEU On-Campus College Admissions Test (OCAT).
The FEU OCAT exams match the current curriculums of their respective campuses and consist of four categories which are Verbal Ability, Science Proficiency, Numerical Ability, and Abstract Reasoning. The contents of the exam are reviewed each year and are amended to keep the exam as relevant as possible.
Students taking up a degree in Computer Science or Information Technology must choose a specialization before enrolling, but every degree program has the same number of terms to finish (12 trimesters).
Insure now, pay later
UBX and Etiqa Philippines have entered into a strategic partnership to introduce “insure now, pay later” scheme in the Philippines.
Under the partnership, Etiqa will leverage UBX’s verticals BUx, an end-to-end payment solutions platform, and Splix, a transact-now-pay-later platform, to offer Etiqa policyholders flexible and convenient ways to settle their premiums.
With the partnership, policyholders can now pay their premiums on an installment basis — with or without credit cards. Leveraging the 60,000 payment channels of BUx, Etiqa enables its customers to pay their premiums via online banking, e-wallets, or over-the-counter.
While payment and collections are the primary thrust of this partnership, the collaboration allows Etiqa customers to defer their insurance payments and break them into smaller sums.
By providing a less intimidating payment plan, the insure now, pay later scheme addresses the general problem of inaccessibility and the misconception that insurance is an unnecessary expense.
Enhancing skills
Knauf Gypsum Philippines Inc. and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office IV-A CALABARZON have signed an agreement to be partners in improving the skills and lives of the region’s construction workers.
This partnership is in line with the vision of Republic Act 11310, otherwise known as “An Act Institutionalizing the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program,” to support Pantawid partner beneficiaries through the sharing of knowledge, experience, skills, and resources.
This partnership is anchored on the Kilos-Unlad Framework and seeks to provide appropriate support services to partner beneficiaries, especially those who have graduated or have exited households.
“Our main goal is to provide skills training for our 4Ps beneficiaries. This will be a community-based training, so we will pick among those who have skills and knows a little or are working in the construction industry or those who have experience,” said Mark Dewey Sergio, Knauf Gypsum Philippines managing director.
Together with DEG — Deutsche Investitions, one of Knauf’s investments is the Knauf Academy, a training center in Quezon City that has been providing gypsum board installation training to construction workers in the Philippines.
Sending money and more with PalawanPay
PalawanPay is an e-wallet app that offers more than cashless transactions. It has features like Cash In, Cash out, Pera Padala, and Money Transfer. One may also purchase mobile load, pay bills and send payments to authorized merchants using the QRPH code.
PalawanPay banks on the 10,000+ Palawan Express Pera Padala outlets and authorized agents nationwide where you can cash in and cash out in many locations.
What makes PalawanPay unique among all e-wallet apps is that there are physical branches available that not only offer cash-in and cash-out options but also are home to agents and storefront personnel who are trained to address queries and provide excellent customer service.
Acer tops consumer notebook sales
Acer continued to dominate the PC notebook category in the Philippines for 2022 and was the No. 1 consumer notebook brand for the 16th consecutive year.
The brand topped the category with a 35.2 percent market share, according to a third-party research firm.
Acer was also No. 1 in the gaming notebook category with a 40.4 percent market share.
For 2022, market share peaked for Acer in October at 48.2 percent as post-pandemic hybrid work made notebooks even more of a necessity. In 2021, Acer had an overall market share of 33 percent – 30 percent in consumer notebooks and 34 percent in gaming notebooks.
Learning tools donation
Security Bank Foundation Inc. (SBFI) completed its distribution of 64 Knowledge Channel Portable Media Libraries (PML) and 1,122 keychain microscopes to its adopted schools nationwide.
Dubbed as the Gift of Knowledge, PMLs are hard drives with over 1,500 Knowledge Channel developed video lessons, e-games, and e-session guides aligned with the Department of Education K-12 curriculum.
“The Portable Media Library is in line with the Department of Education’s attempt to lessen teachers’ workloads so they can devote more time and attention to teaching and monitoring the progress of students,” said Tagbilaran City district supervisor Ma. Antonette Dugang.
The keychain microscope, also known as Makeroscope, is a handy tool for viewing microscopic samples up to x265 zoom when attached to mobile devices’ front cameras. Each set comes with sample slides of animal and plant cells.
The 64 recipient schools of PMLs and 11 recipient schools of Makeroscopes are also beneficiaries of Security Bank Foundation’s Build a School, Build a Nation Program, a holistic program that provides schools with classrooms and associated repair, teacher and school principal training, and other learner support interventions.
The last batch of 13 schools that received PMLs during the National Teachers’ Month from September 5 to October 5 last year.
Coins.ph at Bitcoin Island Retreat
Pouch.ph, the first company in the Philippines to process payments utilizing bitcoin’s emerging payment standard, “The Lightning Network,” has partnered with Coins.ph, the Philippines’ leading digital wallet provider and crypto exchange platform, to host the country’s first-ever Bitcoin Island Retreat in Boracay.
The inaugural event will be held on March 27 to 29 bringing together Bitcoin thought leaders, builders, investors, and general enthusiasts from around the world to network and discuss Bitcoin.
Attendees can pay for fine dining, resorts, water sports, and drinks with Bitcoin. Bitcoin payments in Boracay are instant and fee-free thanks to the Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s layer-2 scaling solution. Pouch.ph enables merchants to accept lightning payments and receive instant, final settlement in Philippine Pesos with no fees.
At the event, attendees will interact with trailblazers in the Bitcoin industry, led by Ethan Rose, the founder and CEO of Pouch.ph. and Elijah Tan, the vice president of Operations at Coins.
GSIS Touch Mobile App launched
OutSystems, a global leader in high-performance application development, partnered with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) of the Philippines to launch the GSIS Touch Mobile App which provides users with ease of access to the agency’s services.
Leveraging the OutSystems platform, the GSIS Touch Mobile App was built by the GSIS IT team within a shorter timeline to provide over 2.5 million members and pensioners with convenience and accessibility when applying for loans and services.
OutSystems helped GSIS improve its capabilities in developing mobile applications, in particular, outsourcing the development of the Motor Vehicle Processing system which contained the mobile app component. To ensure timely and quality development of the app to provide remote and contactless access to its users, OutSystems provided interface and user experience (UX/UI) online training to the GSIS’ project team to further enhance their technical skills and competencies.
Through the GSIS Touch Mobile App, GSIS members are now able to remotely access the platform, allowing them to apply for loans and claim benefits with ease. Now with over 506,040 registered users and an average of 25,000 users– 372,338 loan applications have been applied through the app within only a year of the GSIS Touch being available to the public with enhanced features on loans and claims tentative computation and application.
The easiest way to ship abroad
ShipIt introduces a new platform that aims to make the process more accessible and easy to use.
Established by 1Export in 2021, ShipIt has already sent over 2,500 packages to more than 50 countries. ShipIt launched a new platform that introduces an easier way to send packages beyond borders. Shippers can now seamlessly book, pay, and schedule their shipments online, eliminating the need for a manual process.
Apart from the cheap shipping rates, boxes are offered free of charge to all shippers booking online, along with packing services. Packages within Metro Manila are picked up at no cost.
The ShipIt website features a rate calculator which instantly shows estimated shipping costs based on the customers’ package weight and dimensions.
